ISLAMABAD: Indian media’s premature shouts about Imran Khan being rigid and an ally to extremists are far from truth as candidates fielded by Hafiz Saeed’s party fared badly against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) candidates.
A prime example is NA-53, where a PTI man won the constituency by securing more than 90,000 votes over the candidate supported by Hafiz Saeed.
Saeed’s party Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek’s candidate Chaudhry Saeed Ahmad managed to secure just 1,361 votes against PTI chief Imran Khan’s 92,891 votes.
Hafiz Saeed, considered to be a philanthropist by many in Pakistan, never did impress the masses politically.
The Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek secured just 171,587 across Pakistan against 16,851,240 votes secured by PTI.
Interestingly, Hafiz Saeed’s son Hafiz Talha Saeed secured less than 11,000 votes from NA-91, Sardgodha against 110,525 votes secured by a PML-N candidate who won this seat.
This false portrayal by the Indian media compelled Imran Khan to react in his victory speech after his party emerged victorious in the July 25 general election.
“Over the past few days I was saddened by the way the media in India portrayed me as a Bollywood film villain. It seemed as if India feared everything bad would happen if Imran Khan came into power. I am the Pakistani who is most familiar in India, I have been all over that country,” he stated in his victory speech.
Brig (retd) Farooq Hameed told this correspondent that actually the international media and Indian media couldn’t digest Imran Khan electoral victory because of certain reasons and they all wanted to discredit him.
According to him, this was the first time that a politician who had no stake outside this country would become the Prime Minister.
He said the victory of PTI has stunned the international establishment and India which had wanted someone in Pakistan who could toe their agenda.
“This is the first time that an honest person who does not own properties outside Pakistan would become the prime minister. He does not have the support of the international establishment. Imran Khan’s victory in the election is unacceptable to the Indian media and the international establishment. They are trying to come up with ways and means to discredit him. Sometimes, they portray him as an ally of the Taliban in addition to describing him as a supporter of Hafiz Saeed,” he stated.
Contrary to the speech of Nawaz Sharif in 2013, Imran Khan specifically mentioned the Kashmir dispute in his victory speech, he asserted.
Quoting from Nawaz Sharif’s victory speech, he said that Sharif had urged the people to give him a two-thirds majority in parliament.
Welcoming Hafiz Saeed becoming part of mainstream politics, he said that it was actually the beauty of democracy.
“One of primary responsibilities of the state is to retrieve individuals like Hafiz Saeed and make them part of mainstream affairs,” he stated.
